Sectaurs

Sectaurs
Genre Animation
Created by Tim Clarke and Maureen Trotto
Written by Dan DiStefano
Janis Diamond
Directed by John Kimball
Voices of Arthur Burghardt
Peter Cullen
Laurie Faso
Dan Gilvezan
Peter Renaday
Neil Ross
Frank Welker
Theme music composer Shuki Levy
Haim Saban
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of episodes 5
Production
Executive producer(s) Ken Spears
Joe Ruby
Producer(s) Cosmo Anzilotti
Production company(s) Ruby-Spears Productions
Broadcast
Original run

September 14 1985 – October 12

1985

Sectaurs: Warriors of Symbion was a line of action figures released by Coleco in 1985.[1]

Sectaurs was created by Tim Clarke and Maureen Trotto and Licensed by Seven towns.


The premise was that "somewhere in space, somewhere in time," exists a planet called Symbion, where a genetic experiment fails. Frightening changes take place that cannot be stopped. The result? A world where insects and arachnids grow to frightening proportions. A world where the inhabitants have taken on the awesome characteristics of insects and arachnids. Prince Dargon, ruler of the peaceful Shining Realm of Prosperon, and his allies are in conflict with the forces of Empress Devora, ruler of the Dark Domain of Synax, and her henchmen, for possession of the Hyves, fortresses of an ancient civilization holding the key to ultimate power. Each character was "tele-bonded" with intelligent, non-anthropomorphic insect creatures called Insectoids that had a special ability, and shared each other's "pleasure and pain."

An animated mini-series that spanned five episodes was created based on the characters, and Marvel Comics published an eight issue limited series about them as well. A read along record storybook was also made.

Sectaurs Action Figures

Sectaurs was released by Coleco in 1985 (not 1984, as the stamp on the figures would suggest). Figures and insect companions were packaged together in a window box with weapons, a mini comic book and instructions. Some of these companions were large enough for the Sectaurs to ride, and were actually "puppet like", in which you could place your hand inside a glove that made up the lower body of the beast to manipulate the legs and an action feature. A second series of figures were designed and pictured in dealers' catalogues, but never produced due to the line's cancellation. The toy line did not do well partly because of the intimidating appearances of even the heroes and their companion beasts, and partially due to price points well above other action figure lines in stores at the same time.

Heroic Sectaurs of the Shining Realm

Evil Sectaurs of the Dark Domain

The Hyve

The Hyve playset was also produced, and is one of the larger playsets released in the 1980s. Accessories included a boulder-like wrecking ball, a heavy skalibur turret gun, a ladder, and a cage. It featured a landing pad with a trap door, a collapsible bridge, and an interior detailing a "Bio-Control Laboratory". The Hyve came with two Mutant Insectoids as guardians. Narr was a glove puppet, while Vypex was a smaller finger puppet. Narr and Vypex each had a cave from which they could "ambush" figures during play. Since each was a puppet, their rear anatomies did not exist in toy form. As a result, the penciler who worked on the comic book never drew the rear portions of their bodies. The rear edge of Narr's abdomen was always obscured by the foreground, while Vypex's serpentine body never ended.


Notable Characters From the Comics and Other Books

Glossary of Terminology and Locations

References

  1. "Battle of the Fun Factories". Time. December 16, 1985. Retrieved 2010-03-17.

External links